The Brits are ardent curry fans, with their love for the dish often trumping their desire for fish and chips. Several factors are responsible for curry’s popularity, but Lord Gulam Noon, known as the ‘Curry King’ in the UK, is the guy who can take the most credit for it. He not only changed the dynamics when he launched frozen and chilled food meals, but is said to have coined the term chicken tikka masala – because he felt chicken makhanwala might be difficult for the British to pronounce.

Having lost his father at the age of nine years, with four siblings, he made a promise to his mother that he would take care of everything. Six years later, Lord Noon started the company Commercial Arts and Printers to feed his hunger for business, and at 17 he quit studies and immersed himself completely in the family’s sweet shop – Royal Sweets, Mumbai, which continues to welcome customers.

In 1966, he came to London with the support of some friends, and opened a single sweet shop known as Bombay Halwa Ltd, the UK arm of Royal Sweets.

The then managing director of Taj Hotels Ajit Kerkar soon approached him to introduce frozen and chilled Indian meals to the American market together with the sweets business.

Seeing many of his friends running successful enterprises in the US and with the backing of Taj Group, Lord Noon was determined to make this work. They began with opening seven restaurants in the very first year, with the aim of tempting the elite Asian community as well as bringing the Americans into the fold.

But soon rising costs and the fact that the market in the US was not ready for such meals became issues. “We were 25 years too early. America is still coming to terms with the concept. We had not given enough thought to the way Americans buy their food, or where they buy their food. Of course, they have supermarkets, but they buy from local stores that sell everything from pharmaceuticals to foodstuffs,” said Lord Noon.

And this gave him the impetus to try the idea in the UK. Unlike American consumers, Britons devoured the authentic food packets. Noon Products, which was set up in 1988, sells around 4, 00,000 – 5, 00,000 meals a day. Initially, the factory was 5,500 sq ft. Today, it is about 400,000 sq ft area, with four factories that cater to this rising demand. “I entered the market when the timing was just right. Statistically it was found that an average English family eats curry once every 10 days,” says Lord Noon.

Now that Britain loves curry, where is the business going next? “Besides chilled and frozen Indian meals, the company also specialises in Italian, French, Mexican, Chinese and Malaysian and exports are sent to France, Germany and Belgium. A separate arm of the company specialises in aviation catering for British Airways, Air India, Virgin Atlantic, Jet Airways and Kingfisher.”

A cold storage plant is now being set up in Gujarat in association with Kerry Foods, the parent company of Noon Products in the UK. But Lord Noon feels the market for frozen or chilled meals in India is at its infancy. “India is not ready, as cold chain facilities are unavailable. Most shopkeepers turn off the cold storage at night. On the other hand, our products leave the plant at 5°C and it is maintained until the consumer buys the same in a supermarket.”

At the age of 76 there’s still a lot that he wants to achieve. But for now sitting in his beautiful central London office, looking content he says, “If I were reborn, I would start my career in the food industry all over again.”